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Professor Owen seems to suppose that the positions on pleasure as a process of coming-to-be in Books VII and X of the Nicomachean Ethics are identical. Others suppose that Aristotle's main opponents are the same in both books. Obviously this is important for the question of developments after Plato as well as for that of the relationship between the two books. This chapter considers the case for supposing that in both books Aristotle's main opponent is Speusippus, Plato's successor as head of the Academy. It compares the two books in some detail, including the views on pleasure as a process...

Professor Owen seems to suppose that the positions on pleasure as a process of coming-to-be in Books VII and X of the Nicomachean Ethics are identical. Others suppose that Aristotle's main opponents are the same in both books. Obviously this is important for the question of developments after Plato as well as for that of the relationship between the two books. This chapter considers the case for supposing that in both books Aristotle's main opponent is Speusippus, Plato's successor as head of the Academy. It compares the two books in some detail, including the views on pleasure as a process of coming-to-be. A clear view of Aristotle's opponents should help one see the nature of his own stances in opposition to them. The discussion should help fill in the post-Platonic picture and lead in to a discussion of Aristotle.